Weaken monsters and use traps and tranquilizer items to capture them in Monster Hunter Wilds. Learn how and when you can capture monsters, how to use traps and tranquilizers, and if you should kill or capture monsters!

How to Capture Monsters

To capture monsters, you need to weaken it, lure it into a trap, and use tranquilizers to knock it out.

1. Prepare Traps and Tranq Bombs
2. Fight and Weaken Monster
3. Use Trap Item Once Monster is Weak
4. Use Tranq Bombs or Tranq Blades to Capture Monster

Prepare Traps and Tranq Bombs

How to Craft Monster Capture Items
Trap Tool	+	Net	→	Pitfall Trap
Trap Tool	+	Thunderbug Capacitor	→	Shock Trap
Sleep Herb	+	Parashroom	→	Tranq Bomb
Tranq Bomb	+	Throwing Knife	→	Tranq Blade

Before heading out to a hunt where you need to capture a monster, make sure that you have prepared the important items for capturing.

The essential items that you will need to capture monsters are Pitfall Traps or Shock Traps and Tranq Bombs. You can craft these using materials that you can get in locales, while you can purchase Trap Tools from the Provisions Stockpile in your base camp.

Combining a Tranq Bomb and a Throwing Knife to make Tranq Blades are optional, but they can come in handy if you want to tranquilize a monster first before you use a trap on it.

Fight and Weaken Monster

Once you have the items that you need, you can start the hunt and fight the monster that you want to capture. You need to keep damaging the monster until it is near death to be able to capture it, so be careful not to go all out as you may accidentally slay the monster.

Once you deal enough damage and the monster is near death, it will start moving slowly and begin limping, which signals that it can be captured.

Check for Skull Icon in Minimap

A skull icon will also appear next to a monster's icon in the minimap when it is near death, and is another indicator that the monster can now be captured.

However, it is good to note that this icon has a certain delay before it starts to show up on your map, so it still advised to observe the monster itself.

Use Trap Item Once Monster is Weak

Once the monster is weak, limping, and has a skull icon has appeared next to its icon in the minimap, it can now be captured using the items you prepared before the hunt!

Place a Pitfall Trap or Shock Trap near the monster to entrap it. This will immobilize the monster, which opens up the window to capturing it.

If you have previously used traps on the target monster, using the Tranq Bombs or Tranq Blades first is a viable option, especially if the monster has become resistant to either trap.

Retrieve Traps If Target Runs Away

If the monster runs away from the area and does not go near your trap, you can retrieve it from the ground and use it again once you're able to secure that the monster will no longer move to another location.

Environmental Traps Will Not Work

Monsters can only be captured when they are immobilized by Pitfall Traps or Shock Traps. You cannot catch a monster trapped by vine traps and other environmental traps.

How to Set and Activate Traps

Some Traps Do Not Work on Certain Monsters

Certain monsters will also be immune to your trap items. Rey Dau and Gypceros cannot be affected by Shock Traps, while the enormous Jin Dahaad will not be able to trapped by Pitfall Traps.

Use Tranq Bombs or Tranq Blades to Capture Monster

Once the monster is immobilized with your trap item, throw two Tranq Bombs near it to complete the capture.

Do note that you need to be near the monster for the Tranq Bombs to take effect, so make sure that you approach the trapped monster first.

Alternatively, you can use Tranq Blades, which work essentially the same as Tranq Bombs, but with the added benefit of not having to unsheathe your weapon in order to fire them, as well as being able to fire them at a distance.

Bowgun Users Can Use Tranq Ammo

How to Craft Monster Capture Items
Tranq Bomb	+	Normal Ammo	→	Tranq Ammo

Light and Heavy Bowguns can use Tranq Ammo with their weapons, which works the same way as Tranq Bombs but can be used from a distance.

Should You Kill or Capture Monsters?

Capture Monsters to Get More Materials

Capturing monsters gives you more materials, some rarer than carving it from a slain monster, at the end of the hunt. Upon capturing a monster, you will obtain extra materials apart from the regular Target and Bonus Rewards.

If you are farming for a certain rare item or monster part, capturing monsters is your best bet.

Capturing vs Killing Monsters

Take Advantage of Carver Meal Skill

The Carver Meal Skill, which is a Skill you can get from Meal Invites, will let you get more materials after capturing a monster.

If Carver is active, you will be able to get four additional materials once you capture your target monster, which is a big help when farming for items!

Carver Meal Skill Effects

Some Monster Parts can Only be Obtained Through Kills

Note that there are some monster parts that you can only get by killing the monster or even breaking its parts. You'll miss these rewards if you just capture them!

Capturing Monsters will Lessen Hunt Time

Since you can capture monsters once they're in low health, you are saving time, as you don't have to deplete their entire health. For harder monsters, you will also avoid more risks and death at the end since you capture them instead.

No Time to Carve the Tail If Captured

There may not be enough time to carve the tail once you capture the monster as the quest will be completed in 20 seconds. This also applies to ores or any items you wanna retrieve in the wild, which is why it's best to get them before you capture the monster.

How to Cut Monster Tails

Some Monsters Cannot Be Captured

Story quest requires slaying Jin Dahaad.

Some monsters like Jin Dahaad, Guardian Arkveld, and Low Rank's final boss cannot be captured and need to be slain to complete their respective quests. Similarly, monsters classified as Elder Dragons also cannot be captured.

Are There Elder Dragons?

Quests Differences

Hunt Quest	Slay Quest
Capture Quest	Repel Quest

Quests may also have different objectives. Some quests will allow you to hunt the target monster, where you can either kill or capture it.

Some will only require you to either slay or capture the monster. Slaying a monster in a capture quest will make you fail the quest so it is best to be careful especially when the monster is already weak!

Repel quests on the other hand are present during story missions, where you only need to deal some damage to the monster to progress through the story; you will be able to hunt the monster at some other time.

Slay Quest List (Spoiler Alert!)

Quest Title	Monster Target
A Feast in the Deep	Uth Duna
Tide Overtaking Timber Quest
An Ominous Encounter Quest	Guardian Doshaguma
The Ashen King Quest	Guardian Rathalos
Repel the Guardian Arkveld Quest	Guardian Arkveld
The Pale Dream of a Lone Shadow Quest
Awaking From a Dream Quest
The Rimechain Trial Quest	Jin Dahaad
When Frost Falls Quest
Frozen Lord on the Precipice Quest
Watcher of the Ancient Capital Quest	Guardian Ebony Odogaron
Guardian Zoh Shia Quest	Zoh Shia
Astonishing Adaptability Quest	Xu Wu
Roaring Rey Dau Quest	Rey Dau
Scorching the Earth Once More Quest	Nu Udra
Shrouded in Black Quest	Gore Magala and Blangonga

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